Sample Precedents
The Autonomous Land Trust is the next iteration on cooperatively managed land/housing, drawing from the models and experiences of past projects. We look to build on the successes and failures of our forebears. A few precedents informing our thinking can be found below.
Non-Digital
Community Land Trusts are collectively governed non-capitalist landholders, typically dedicated to housing, conservation, or agriculture. Growing from the work of Black sharecroppers in the US South, the model became popular in the 1970s and is experiencing renewed interest at present. CLTs are classically governed by a board with mandatory tripartite representation of residents, members of the surrounding community, and public/civic officials. CLTs ensure perpetual affordability, but they often have difficulty scaling. Learn more here.
Land Banks are public (governmental) bodies that purchase, receive, aggregate, develop, sell, and/or lease land on behalf of the public interest (broadly construed). Land banks allow the public to be patient and strategic actors in a speculative environment. Sometimes, they work closely with non-public bodies like CLTs. Learn more here.
Permanent Real Estate Cooperatives (PRECs) are an emergent form of cooperative entity, similar to CLTs, but allowing for a wider range of activities, including growth of the organization outside the limited world of foundation grants and largesse from the wealth. PRECs are “movement cooperatives” with a broad range of members who may or may not be directly living in PREC-owned housing. PRECs also come from the perspective of solidarity and mutual aid over charity. East Bay PREC, the first version of the model, has acquired four properties (three housing and one commercial) and is currently acquiring another. ALT takes its biggest cues from this PREC model. Learn more about PRECs here.
Digital
CityDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) focused on building a network city. The DAO was the first to put ownership and control of land on the blockchain. Fundamentally, the DAO is governed by holders of its Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), but it has experimented with many forms of governance and contribution structures. CityDAO has struggled (and faced dissolution) over a lack of shared vision among members, difficult governance processes, lack of transparency among contributors, and burnout. There was also a potential failure to cultivate democratic norms and shared responsibility among members. Learn more here.
Theopetra Labs is a crypto-based Real World Assets (RWA) venture that intends to develop a network state through affordable/attainable housing in the US. The project uses relatively complex tokenonmics to incentivize participation and grow/stabilize the Theopetra network. Presently in a custodial phase, Theopetra provides a vision for decommodified housing achieved alongside existing market dynamics.
Breadchain is an anti-capitalist crowd-staking platform and “local” currency. Users can trade US-dollar-pegged $DAI for $BREAD. The $DAI is staked to generate interest, which is used to invest in mission-aligned projects. Users can spend $BREAD for services/goods/protocols that are mission-alingned and part of the network. While Breadchain is not dealing with land/housing per se, the system as instantiation of solidarity economics on the blockchain serve as useful inspiration.